SOCIO-HYDROLOGICAL DYNAMICS IN BANGLADESH Understanding the interaction between hydrological and social processes along the Jamuna floodplain Md Ruknul Ferdous SOCIO-HYDROLOGICAL DYNAMICS IN BANGLADESH Understanding the interaction between hydrological and social processes along the Jamuna floodplain ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op woensdag 15 januari 2020, te 10:00 uur door Md Ruknul Ferdous geboren te Dinajpur Promotiecommissie: Promotores: Prof. dr. M.Z. Zwarteveen Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. G. Di Baldassarre Uppsala universitet Copromotores: Dr. L. Brandimarte Kungliga Tekniska högskolan Dr. A.J. Wesselink IHE Delft Overige leden: Prof. dr. J. Gupta Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. J.C.J.H. Aerts Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Prof. dr. P. van der Zaag IHE Delft / TU Delft Prof. dr. P.J. Ward Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Dr. H. Kreibich GFZ Potsdam Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen To my parents Rezina Khatoon and late Alauddin Ahmed CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020, Md Ruknul Ferdous Although all care is taken to ensure integrity and the quality of this publication and the information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers, the author nor IHE Delft for any damage to the property or persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or the information contained herein. A pdf version of this work will be made available as Open Access via https://ihedelftrepository.contentdm.oclc.org/ This version is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 I nternational License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Published by: CRC Press/Balkema Schipholweg 107C, 2316 XC, Leiden, the Netherlands [email protected] www.crcpress.com – www.taylorandfrancis.com ISBN 978-0-367-90213-1 (Taylor & Francis Group) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am extremely grateful to Almighty for enabling me to complete my PhD research. I would like to acknowledge and thank many people for their continuous help and support while conducting my PhD research. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and respect to my supervisor and promotor, Professor Margreet Zwarteveen, for giving me the opportunity to work as a PhD student under her supervision. I am extremely grateful to Margreet for her contribution from the beginning to the end of my PhD research. I learned a lot from Margreet throughout the period as a PhD student. I thank her for her outstanding supervision through her scientific knowledge and interest. I would also like to express my gratitude and respect to my supervisor and co-promotor, Professor Giuliano Di Baldassarre, for being with me during the entire period of my PhD research. He also supervised my MSc thesis and this was the reason I undertook the PhD. I am highly thankful and grateful to Giuliano for his support, guidance, enthusiasm and valuable input in my PhD research. Without his kind support and guidance it would have been impossible for me to finish my PhD. I would like to express my sincere gratitude and heartfelt thanks to my co-supervisor, Dr. Luigia Brandimarte for her interest and careful supervision and guidance right from the beginning of my PhD research. She also supervised my MSc thesis and this was also the reason I undertook the PhD. She helped me a lot in every aspect of my PhD research and I learned a lot from Luigia throughout the period as a PhD student. This PhD thesis would have been impossible without her unconditional inputs. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to my co-supervisor, Dr. Anna Wesselink, for her interest and continuous support from the beginning of my PhD research. Without her kind support, guidance, enthusiasm to help and extreme tolerance it would have been impossible for me to finish my PhD. I am grateful and thankful from bottom of my heart to Anna for her immense contribution for my PhD research. I learned vii a lot from Anna throughout the period of my research as a PhD student. She was always beside me during the entire period of my PhD research. I would like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to Dr. Michelle Kooy and Professor Arthur Mynett for their interest and careful guidance at the beginning of my PhD research. This PhD thesis would not have been possible without their unconditional inputs during my PhD proposal development. I am also thankful to Dr. Kymo Slager of Deltares for his cordial co-operation and perceptive guidance for my PhD research. I express my heartfelt gratitude to him for his unconditional help to write two scientific journal papers. I am really grateful to him. I am thankful to Dr. Parvin Sultana and Dr. Paul Thompson of FHRC Bangladesh for their cordial co-operation and guidance in developing my PhD proposal. I am also grateful to them for helping me during field work at Bangladesh. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Md Mahabubar Rahman, Mr. Md Enamul Haque and Mr. Md Shahrier Islam of Gaibandha, Bangladesh, who were my field assistants in Bangladesh. Without their support it would not have been possible for me to collect household survey data. I am really grateful to them. I express my sincere gratitude to CEGIS for providing hydrological data and satellite images for my PhD research. I am really grateful to CEGIS for their help and support. I am thankful to Mr. Sudipta Kumar Hore, Ms. Deeba Farzana Moumita and Mr. Mohammad Saidur Rahman for their help and support to do satellite image analysis during my PhD research. I am also thankful to Mr. Md Mizanur Rahman for allowing me to use his MSc thesis data in my PhD research. I am really grateful to them. I am grateful to NWO-WOTRO for funding my PhD research through the project “Hydro- Social Deltas: Understanding flows of water and people to improve policies and strategies for disaster risk reduction and sustainable development of delta areas in the Netherlands and Bangladesh”. I also thank IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the Netherlands and University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands for hosting me during my PhD research period. viii I am also grateful to all of my ex-colleagues and friends in Bangladesh to help and support me during my PhD research. I am also thankful to all my colleagues and friends here in the Netherlands for entertaining me during my stay in the Netherlands. I would like to convey my immense love and gratitude to my beloved mother Rezina Khatoon and my loving sisters Jannatul Ferdous and Bentul Mawa, my brother Zannatul Adan, for their endless love, encouragement and inspiration without which I find everything incomplete and barren. I also like to remember my late beloved father Alauddin Ahmed for his endless love and affection for me. He always encouraged me and showed me the right path. Most importantly I thank from the inner core of my heart my beloved wife Shamrin Rahman, who has taken all the burdens of my family during my entire PhD period here in the Netherlands. She took care of our son and helped me to complete my work. It would not have been possible for me to complete my PhD without her endless love, unconditional support, patience, and blessings. I feel deeply indebted to her. I am also blessed to have my son Sheaaf Ibrahim Ferdous with me here in the Netherlands. He is always an inspiration to me. My tiredness vanishes with his smile and boosts energy for my work. ix